Traffic accidents are an ever-present risk for motorists and pedestrians alike. Pedestrians are particularly vulnerable to fast moving vehicles. One way to increase driver and pedestrian safety is to post a speed limit. However, many drivers fail to comply with posted speed limits. This can be particularly dangerous in school zones, hospital zones, residential areas, and other areas where pedestrians are more likely to be present in the roadway. It is important to reduce the risk of traffic accidents in order to improve overall road safety and reduce the risk of death and injury to motorists and pedestrians.
One way of lowering the risk of a traffic accidents in areas of high pedestrian activity is to post a greatly reduced speed limit. However, drivers are not always aware of the speed limit on particular roads, due to a long stretch of road without a posted speed limit, a general lack of awareness by the drivers, or such causes. If a driver is not aware of what the speed limit on a given stretch of road is, then they may travel at an unsafe speed. It is therefore desirable to provide a system that notifies drivers of the speed limit of the particular section of roadway through which the driver is traveling.
In some areas, the speed limits on roads may change abruptly. For example, a state highway or county road may have a posted speed limit of 55 MPH. When that road passes through a residential neighborhood, school zone, or other area populated with pedestrians, the posted speed limit may drop suddenly to a lower limit, such as 25 MPH. A distracted driver may not be aware of the changing speed limit and unintentionally operate a vehicle at an unsafe speed in excess of the legal limit, which increases the risk of vehicle accidents involving pedestrians. An alert system that notifies a driver when their vehicle is traveling in excess of the legal speed limit is therefore desired.
While a system that provides an alert to a driver traveling above the posted speed limit will be sufficient for users who are unintentionally speeding, it will not discourage a driver who is intentionally speeding from doing so. Some drivers choose to continue to speed regardless of the posted limit. Currently, drivers may only be discouraged from speeding if they see a police officer while driving, due to the possibility of receiving a speeding ticket. However, police and other agencies are only able to monitor a small fraction of roadways at any given time. The threat of a speeding ticket alone may not be enough of a deterrent to discourage drivers from traveling faster than the posted speed limit. There is need for a system that actively monitors vehicle speed and, if the driver chooses to travel at a speed that is greatly in excess of the posted speed limit, automatically transmits the driver's location and speed information to the appropriate authority. Using such a system will lessen the need for a constant police presence along roadways and will further increase safety for pedestrians by discouraging drivers from speeding through reduced speed limit zones.